11 May 2020
Graham Sattler illustrates how making music in the classroom can be a joyful and enriching opportunity for both K – 6 students and their teachers. He explains how primary school teachers can approach the seemingly challenging task of teaching their students how to read written (sheet) music. He discusses why it is so important for teachers to do so and how such skills are linked closely to teaching literacy, numeracy and logic.
If children aren’t given the opportunity to learn to decode written music (that doesn’t need to be complicated) . . . then they’re missing out on an opportunity to really engage in a tangible expression of numeracy and literacy and also logic and also that structure . . .
Music is innately mathematical in how it is structured.
Making music is a joyful experience (and it’s a bonding experience). And music in the classroom is a tremendous opportunity (a tremendous offering, I guess) for children and teachers alike to bond with this common, celebratory activity, and an opportunity, to make music which is all about expressing emotion and communicating emotion.
Everybody has the right to make music (to make their own music).
Graham Sattler
Note for listeners: This episode was originally recorded for the JPL Podcast, hence the references to the JPL Podcast throughout.